25th Annual Conference
Featured Presenters
Wednesday, February 6, 2008
Catalytic Conversations: A Look at the Road Ahead
Department Chairs live in interesting, change-filled times. Between increasing globalization, expanding technology use, rising insight expectations, and an emerging education imperative, chairs have much to do to prepare for the road ahead. This presentation seeks to catalyze key conversations about these and other hot topics. Moreover, it will challenge chairs to tackle these topics with less hyperbole and more thoughtful explorations of the issues and opportunities coming their way in the months and years to come.
Dr. Mark David Milliron is the President and CEO of Catalyze Learning International (CLI). CLI is a private consulting and service group dedicated to improving and inspiring learning in K-12 school districts, community colleges, universities, corporations, and government agencies.
Dr. Milliron received his B.S., summa cum laude, from Arizona State University, where he also received his M.A. as a Graduate Regents Scholar. He has a Ph.D. in educational leadership from the University of Texas at Austin, where he was a Kellogg Senior Research Fellow. In addition, he has served as president and CEO of the League for Innovation in the Community College, executive director of Global Learning Initiatives with Oracle Corporation, and vice president for academic and student services at Mayland Community College in North Carolina.
Milliron has a strong and varied background as an educator, and a passion in exploring teaching and learning, leadership, future trends and the human side of technology change. He has authored books, monographs and articles; spoken at colleges, corporations, and conferences; and served as a key resource for local, state, national government programs. He also serves on the board of trustees for Western Governors University (WGU), on national advisory boards for NC State's Friday Institute for Educational Innovation, the University of Texas TeleCampus, the University of Pennsylvania and Wharton Executive Education's Chief Learning Officer program, and the Community College Survey of Student Engagement (CCSSE), and is a member of the Council for Academic Management for eArmyU. He has previously served on the board of the American Council on Education (ACE), works closely with the U.S. Departments of Education and Labor, and serves on numerous other educational, non-profit and corporate boards. In addition, he also serves as a distinguished adjunct faculty member of educational leadership at the University of Texas at Austin.
While teaching at Arizona State, Dr. Milliron received the International Communication Association's Teaching Excellence Award. More recently, the University of Texas at Austin's College of Education honored him as a Distinguished Graduate for his service to the education field. He was also named one of the top Shapers of the Future by Converge Magazine in August 2000. In 2005, PBS Adult Learning Service named Milliron the recipient of its annual O'Banion Prize for transformational work in support of teaching and learning.
Thursday, February 7
Taking the Lead on What Matters in College: Liberal Education for the New Global Century
With college education more important than ever before, both to individual opportunity and to American prosperity, students are flocking to college. But many students are under-prepared, and most have very little understanding of the kinds of knowledge and skills they will need to succeed in a volatile, global economy. In this context, faculty and departments have a special role to play in helping students become more intentional about their learning, and in ensuring that the curriculum provides rich opportunities to master the arts of inquiry, analysis, communication and integrative learning. Drawing from AAC&U's signature initiative, Liberal education and America's Promise (LEAP), this session will explore new priorities for the college curriculum and the role of the department in fostering intentional and integrative learning.
Dr. Carol Schneider is president of the Association of American Colleges and Universities. With 1,100 institutional members, AAC&U is the leading national organization devoted to advancing and strengthening undergraduate liberal education. Under her leadership, AAC&U has launched two major initiatives: Liberal Education and America's Promise (LEAP), an advocacy and campus action initiative designed to engage students and the public with what really matters in a college education for the 21st century; and Greater Expectations, a multi-faceted program which identified advanced innovative models to improve campus practices and learning for all undergraduate students.
Dr. Schneider also headed a major initiative at AAC&U in the 1990s on higher education and U.S. pluralism, American Commitments: Diversity, Democracy and Liberal Learning. Dr. Schneider has published extensively on all the major areas of her educational work and has taught at the University of Chicago, DePaul University, Chicago State University and Boston University. Dr. Schneider received her undergraduate degree from Mount Holyoke College and her PhD from Harvard University.